A week after getting run out of the Horseshoe, Ball State comes home to Muncie looking for its first feel-good Saturday of the season against an FCS team that's been building something real.
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Best BetBall State
Ball State should be the class of this matchup on paper — an FBS program with a reloaded defensive line at home against an FCS opponent that took a step back in 2025. The catch is Ball State's own offense has been one of the worst in the country three years running, so this isn't a layup, it's a team that has to actually prove it fixed something.
Stony Brook
+8-4 breakthrough season under Cosh in 2024
+Preseason No. 24 FCS ranking entering 2025
+Program culture flipped fast, real infrastructure now
−Regressed to 5-5 in 2025 after hot start
−Stepping up to a true FBS road environment
Ball State
+Home opener on Family Weekend, energized crowd
+Four Power Four D-line transfers added this offseason
+Motivated to rebound after Ohio State season opener
−Three straight seasons finishing under four wins
−Bottom-five FBS offense in yards and points last year
−Unsettled QB battle between two offseason transfers
This one's circled for a specific reason: it's Ball State's Scheumann Stadium debut in 2026, it's Family Weekend, and it comes right after the Cardinals open the season at Ohio State on September 5. However that trip to Columbus goes, Mike Uremovich's group gets a reset against an FCS opponent on Saturday, September 12, with kickoff at 2:00 PM ET.
Stony Brook isn't just showing up to collect a check, either. Billy Cosh turned a winless 2023 into an 8-4 season and CAA Coach of the Year honors in year one, and the Seawolves opened 2025 ranked No. 24 in the FCS preseason poll before settling for a 5-5 finish. That's a program with real infrastructure now, even if the roster took a step back last fall.
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STBK Stony Brook
BALL Ball State
Ball State's issue the last three years hasn't been effort, it's been production — the Cardinals finished among the bottom five FBS teams in both yards and points per game a season ago. The fix on paper is a pile of transfers: two new quarterbacks in Texas State's Keldric Luster and Concord's Tyler Mizzell, plus four Power Four defensive line transfers brought in to toughen up the front. None of that answers real questions until it shows up on a scoreboard, and a home game against an FCS opponent after a likely Ohio State beatdown is exactly the spot where it needs to.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Ball State Cardinals
Sep 5?@ Ohio State—
Recent form.
Whoever wins the Cardinals' quarterback competition will have limited game reps to lean on by the time Stony Brook comes to town, and Cosh's Seawolves have shown they can hang with quality competition when their defense travels well. Two months out, the safest bet is that this is a measuring-stick game for Ball State's rebuild — a program with real reinforcements finally due to show up against the level of opponent it should be beating.
